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NORTHFIELD. VERMONT: 
PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR, 
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COPYRIGHT 1899, BY A. T. DANA. 



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PKRX FI RSX. 



MOSTLY HISTORICAL, 

WHEREIN WE DISCERN AN HISTORICAL APOLOGY FOR THE RANKINGS 

IN BISHOPS WHIST. 

In Charlemagnes day, a period in history wherein we behold the feudal system 
in the zenith of its strength, the gulf which lay between the nobility and the 
common people, was as wide as that which yawns between the lowest level of the 
earth, and the crest of the loftiest cloud. The kingdom of France was then 
divided up into great fiefs, ruled by peers, or barons, who held absolute sway over 
everything within their domains, even the lives of their tenants, serfs, as they were 
called. Deeds executed in those times conveyed to the purchaser, not only the 
land and houses, but also the people, or tenants, dwelling thereon. The dark ages 
we of today term that period during which the feudal system existed, an epoch 
of time which laps over a thousand turbid years of desolated human history ex- 
tending from 400 to 1400 A. D., or thereabouts. Centuries of human existence 
wherein the strong plundered the weak at will, and no strong arm to interpose. A 
time fruitful in ruthless, barbaric wars, in tilts and tournaments between men cased 
in steel armor, and in fanatical crusades, in the tumultuous folly of which un- 
counted millions of the human race miserably perished, the very chronicles of which 
seem only like inscriptions to human folly and superstition. In whatever light we 
of today may regard the dense ignorance, the superstition, the ruthless barbarity 
characterizing that age, who of us can be wholly insensible to the gorgeous dignity 
of that thousand years of feudal history. Could we with a wave of the hand con- 
jure before us a long possession of feudal life what an array of half barbaric glory 
would greet us. Walled cities and castles without number, gloomy monasteries, 
magnificent cathedrals overtopped by glittering spires, kings and queens clothed 
in purple and gold and wearing jewelled crowns, bishops and cardinals habited in 
cassock and mitre, and none the less interesting than any, a multitude of knights 
clad in mail and armed with sword, shield, and battle-ax. History affords no 
character around which so strongly clusters the one idea of the heroic as the knight. 
Valient by reputation at least was the knight, and we of today, in fancy, picture him 
stern and dauntless in his armor coat, and withal as grim as the very shadows of 
the castle archways in the shades of which he so often loitered. 

Over in France in those days, about 1396, a melancholy king sat on the throne, 
and to ease his despondency, his courtiers invented playing cards. These devices 
containing as they did four suits, or classes, they endeavored to make represent the 
four classes of society in the French kingdom, each class having its own kings, 
queens, etc. For instance, they designated one of these card suits the military class 
and distinguished it by putting on the representation of a pike, or spearhead, be- 
cause the military were armed in those days with spears, hence the spearhead most 
fittingly typified the military class. We of today term this spearhead a spade. 

How the inventors of cards in their efforts to render their cards a miniature, or 
representation, of the diff'erent classes of people in the French kingdom, faint as 
those endeavors may appear, should neglect to put in the bishop and castle with 



4 BISHOPS WHIST. 



their kings, queens, etc., may well surprise us. What attempt to copy feudal 
society by card cuts should we say half succeeded, lacking the bishop and castle, 
objects, or dignitaries if you so please to term them, quite as conspicuous in that 
age as kings or queens. Let us admit how much better the chess-board with king, 
queen. caslK;, bishop, knight, has succeeded in reproducing the feudal rankings 
than the old time card packs. 

Oddly enough it must appear that in the five hundred years which have lapsed since 
1396, the date when playing cards were first produced, it appears that no attempt 
has been made to re-arrange these old time cards in any order of ranking consistent 
with historical accuracy. The reason becomes obvious when we consider that the 
bishop iiul castle had never made their appearance in the packs, hence of very 
necessity with ace, king, queen, and jack or knight as the fourth rank card, nothing 
like historical accuracy could possibly be obtained, but in lieu thereof, a mere half 
correct niiithematical grading of kings, jacks, etc. 

A review of the history of the five centuries which have elapsed since cards were 
first invented reveals the somewhat piquant fact that while in that period of time all 
the great branches of the world's literature, poetry, the drama and romance alike, 
have developed to perhaps extreme perfection, card literature, or to speak precisely, 
card packs, have remained like the stone statues ot Pharaoh's day, at a standstill. 
This statement must not be misconstrued to mean that great progress, and even 
perfection, has not been attained in the finishing up of the literature and structure of 
particular games, more notably whist, but that our card packs had never expanded 
into the full stature of their original possibility and significance. That is to say in 
plainest parlance : card packs, lacking the bishop and castle, come far short of 
miniaturing feudal society, even in a mathematical sense, for you might as well strive 
to count ten without repeating the numeral eight, or nine, as to undertake to make 
pictographs of feudal dignitaries correctly ranked, lacking the castle and bishop. 
Of card games we are blessed with a most bountiful harvest. In some of them the 
ace ranks as the highest card, in yet others it is the lowest card, while in still other 
games, the king, or jack, stands as highest card. Invention may be said to have 
outdone itself in the way of constructing new games played with the old time cards 
having ace, king, queen, jack, as dignitaries. Provided we search throughout the 
maze of incongruity and oddity which makes up the mass of literature devoted to 
old-time card games we fail to discover any new card character pretending to 
any historical significance. We meet only the same court cards, ace, king, queen, 
jack, merely set in a new relationship to each other, according to the game played. 

Who of us so bold as to deny that the chess-ljoard affords the best miniature of 
feudal society or ranking yet devised, with king, queen, castle, bishop, knight, all 
the prominent characters represented. Establishing this undeniable fact in mind 
let us admit that with the bishop and castle added to our card packs we preforce 
group together the most complete pictographic complement of feudal society prac- 
tically possible in card pictographs. More complete perhaps from an all around 
glance than the chess-board affords for the cards may give us kings,. queens, knights, 
etc., more life-like Yet again should we draw the line of comparison closer the 
smaller cards, counting from the nine spot down, make up a better mathematical 
grading ot the underlings which thronged the feudal lord's domain such as forester, 
smith, page, etc. History affirms that the forester occupied an important office for 
he stood responsible for all the game on his lord's domain. Let the nine in our 
card pack represent the forester, the eight the smith, the seven the butler, and so 
on down with the two spot as page, and we develop a very pretty mathemati< \ 
grading of the feudal underlings dwelling about old-time castles. On the chess- 



BISHOPS WHIST. 



board, however, while the principal pieces are correctly graded, the inferior pieces, 
the pawns, stand equal in rank. Of course for practical uses such ranking of the 
pawns is the only feasible one, but the fact shows plain when we tighten the lines 
of comparison between the cards, and the chess-board, that the balance of capacity 
to reproduce feudal society, or dignitaries, lays with the cards. 

To those accustomed to the rigid exacitude of modern whist the new game will 
doubtless, at first sight, present such structural irregularities in the peculiar rank and 
action of the knight, as to excite comment. The fact must be kept in mind how- 
ever, that we liave not taken old time whist as our guide or standard in devising 
the new game, not that we have regarded old whist as insufficient as a standard of 
proprieties, but because we have gone back to feudal society itself as a standard of 
ranking. Who so bold as to proclaim that the knigiit properly ranks as fourth 
best character in middle age history, surely no one, and yet he stands as fourth best 
character in all the whist the world has yet known. Provided we group to- 
gether historical characters and stand them each in the proper place in the class, 
how can we do less than go further, bestowing upon each the correct historical 
action in the game. Illy would it suffice that we present the accurate cut of a 
knight in the pack, and fail to give him the right historical movement in the play of 
the cards. Since any one, or even all, of the four knights in Bishop Whist, rank 
as a ten spot in any one, or all, of the non-trump suits which lead, arguing from the 
structure ot the game it must appear theoretically that, one, or four knights, might 
chance in the course of play to be dropped in on any of the non-trump suits, and in 
consequence render that particular suit thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, or even sixteen 
cards long. Admitting such an event to occur in play, no harm might undubitably 
ensue. Theoretically such possible happenings cannot be denied, but when we 
settle down to the basis of actual play these startling theoretical crudities fade out 
of sight like morning mist from the very fact that the knight is mostly held back 
to capture last trick, being seldom parted with except in the case of the knight's 
revoke. In consequence the business governing of the game may be said to com- 
pletely nullify the theoretical irregularties. 

Irregularity is. however, one of the marked essentials in dramatic construction, 
but its limit must be proper and circumscribed of course. To show the strong 
relationship existing between the drama, and a card game, would prove no very 
laborious task. We have the characters for our card play in the kings, queens, etc., 
as truly as in the stage play. The table forms the stage, and each card as it falls in 
play is but a mute actor coming forward to enact his part. Thus we see how closely 
allied in structure should be the game of card to the drama. Broadly speaking, 
the drama does not appeal strictly to the intellect alone, that is to say, v^hen we 
behold a drama we are not put to a great menial task to enjoy it. It sweeps into 
our whole comprehension, just as does the beauty of the landscape, without tiresome 
mental effort. Suppose now we take a play before the actors come on the stage 
and tear out all of those parts wherein anything odd, or irregular, can possibly 
happen. Let us plan and precalculate every act so that none of these haphazard 
events, such as surprise and delight the mind can take place, in short, to eliminate 
all the elements of luck, such happenings as quicken the mind to a sudden con- 
ception that dame fortune wrests the helm from our grasp and ordains things as she 
will, for the moment at least, and what have we done with our drama? Nothing 
more than transmuted it into a veritable multiplication table, exact, it is true, but at 
the same time, barren of the quality of the irregular, and consequently less dramatic, 
while possessing less significance as pastime. 

The new game is not gotten out to modify or improve old whist, but as an 



6 BISHOPS WHIST. 



original, pastime game. The introduction of the bishop and knight, the latter, 
minus a pip, and characterized by a peculiar rank and action, precludes anything 
but a distant resemblence between the two games. Many things in the new game 
will appear loose-jointed to the deciples of old whist, acclimated as they are to the 
mathematical precision of modern scientific whist. The irregular rank and action of 
the knight without pip, being at once essentially new, and so totally at varience 
with the precise exactitude of old whist as new formulated, and again, the fact of 
one point being allowed for bishop cut the dealer, may appear antagonistic to the 
end of casting out all elements of luck in the game, for the stroke of cutting a 
bishop depends wholly upon chance, and nothing whatever upon skill. In fact the 
one point so allowed for bishop cut the dealer, looks more like eliminating the idea 
of skill in a game, a tendency diametrically opposed the pronounced code of modern 
whist authors, who announce that they have striven to eliminate all elements of luck 
in the game. Nevertheless this allowing of one point for bishop cut as a trump card is 
quite in harmony with the idea of pastime in a game, for the act lends added dignity, 
mirth and zest to the deal, and whatever in a game quickens the mind to pleasure- 
able anticipation becomes a part of pastime. 

Five hundred years is a long space for any devises to hold their place in public 
esteem, yet cards have done so. One might fancy that they had grown gray in the 
public service, and that consequently if no vistige of Elijah's mantle remained with 
which to cover them, the mantle of public esteem at least might well rest upon 
them. 

That such pictographs containing kings, castles, bishops, etc., placed in such 
corelation to each other as to miniature to some extent, feudal society, should be 
intrinsically bad of themselves, any more than the drama, or history itself, from 
which the suggestion of cards was first derived, or that they could be anything 
whicn might not grace a pulpit, or parlor table, would also be a surprise to sober 
minds. Cards can be said to be educational factors to some limited extent, and like 
all else in the world, moral enough, if but put to moral uses. 

Nevertheless much odium has been heaped upon cards, wrongfully poisoning the 
public mind against them, with little show of reason it appears. None can deny 
that cards have been put to the worst uses by gambling with them, but the lessons 
of history declare that mankind can convert any good thing into evil uses, not ex- 
cepting the Bible itself. Are we blind to the frigid fact, that our forefathers were 
greivously persecuted and at last driven from their homes in England, to seek a 
shelter in the wilds of America, not because they played cards in England, but 
because they had Bibles there. This stern fact, however, in no wise proves the 
Bible a bad book, on the contrary, it only shows how Holy Writ had fallen into bad 
company. The same rational argument may be applied to cards. Because 
some degrade them by gambling with them in no sense evinces that cards are in- 
trisically bad of themselves, but prompts the suggestion that the cards have fallen 
into evil associations. 



THE BISHOP, 



The bishop stands out as one of the most conspicuous and important function- 
aries which gave added worth and lustre to society in mediaval days. Some idea of 
the pomp and consequentiality with which this swell fellow of the middle ages bol- 
stered himself up before the eyes of the world may be gathered from a brief descrip- 
tion of Wolsey, Englands great cardinal who figures so loudly in the history of 
Henry the VIII of whom the chronicler says : He was made chancellor and had ^ 



BISHOPS WHIST. 



train of eight hundred servants some of whom were noblemen's sons ; his cardinaPs 
hat was borne aloft by a person of rank ; a priest walked before him carrying a pil- 
lar of silver surmounted by a crucifix; the walls of his palace were covered with 
cloth of gold ; the rest of his furniture was splendid in proportion. What a picture 
of earthly pomp and consequence is not here shown up. Turn we where we will 
during the middle ages, in England, France, or elsewhere in the christian world, 
our ears are greeted with the same loud story of the bishop and we behold the same 
garish figure of this church functionary, who next to the King, personates the very 
haughty and pompous magnateof the middle ages. Inasmuch as wealth, pomp and 
pride, raise men to prouder heights in the world's esteem the bishops record in the 
past history of our race shows as gaudy as a golden thread woven in garlands of 
purple, and festooning the altars and sanctuaries of our race. Yes, the great shadow 
of the past which seems to fiit athwart the sombre history of the byegone like a 
stately and dignified phantom, hovering about the arches of magnificent cathedrals 
and kingly palaces, is the bishop. Of Thomas a fjecket, a cardinal who thrived two 
hundred years or so before Wolsey's time, history declares : No suiiject before his 
time had displayed so much pomp in his retinue, or splendor in his furniture, the 
king was his frequent guest. History affords us no happening which sheds so much 
light upon the conseqentiality of the clergy during the middle ages as that of Hen- 
ry II, kneeling before Becket's tomb while a trio of priests scourged his naked back. 
The king in a fit of spleen had incited some of his courtiers to stab Becket to death, 
and so in penance the king knelt before Becket's tomb while priest scourged his naked 
back, thus to expiate his crime. That event took place about 1150 A. D. 

When we look back over the history of christian races how easy for us to dis- 
cover how much added worth and dignity the bishop has bestowed upon society. 
With what blank dismay should we not stare into the great chasm in the chronicles 
of our race were all the memories associated with the bishop totally obliterated. 
Place a rudely sketched landscape drawing before you ; now take your pencil and 
connect the shapeless outhnes of rock, and tree, and meadow ; brighten and burnish 
every cloud streamlet, and woodland shape, in the wondrous beauty of autumn pur- 
ple crimson and gold ; make this painting now more lovely yet with the rosy hue of 
an autumn sunset ; silver the placid water with the sheen of a full orbed harvest 
moon and cast its mellow gloaming over meadow, forest, and hilltop, until you have 
breathed upon your picture the mystic witchery of enchanted land where fairies 
might romp and revel. Thus, in beautifying your canvass you have done to it only 
what the bishop has done to our christian history, for he has enriched it with a 
record of glittering spires, golden crosses and sanctified altars. Yet, for all his 
saintly magnificence the impress of history betrays the bishop with a dark side, and 
very dark that side is. Over in merry England long, long ago, the bishops fell to 
disputing about such quibbles as this : does bread kneaded in flour, yeast and water, 
and baked in a bakers' oven, perchance by a freckled-faced maid, whether such 
bread we say. when blessed by a bishop, become thereby actually transmuted into 
the body of Jesus Christ. Some bishops proclaimed yes, and others stoutly main- 
tained no, and in the heated dispute the bishops speedily got by the ears, and one 
set of bishops gaining advantage over the others, laid violent hands on them, 
chained them to stakes driven into the ground, and piling combustibles about them 
cheerily set fire thereto, speedily burning the bishops to death. Whether the 
phrase "Merry England" arises from the fact that the bishops made so merry burn- 
ing each other to death may perhaps never be surely known. Alas! to often the 
savagries of this haughty and sumptuous fellow would have brought a blush of shame 
to the savages of Patagonia. Yet our existence on the whole has been brightened 



BISHOPS WHIST. 



by the bishop ; take away his altars, his bibles, his crosses, his golden promises, 
and it is as though the firelight at our hearthstones smoulders away into sombre 
darkness until out of the gloom of dying embers, mocking shadows arise, glowering 
darkly on every bright hued hope that quickens the heart into gladness over immor- 
tal life. Truly, in the bishop we behold the great garish puppet of christian histo- 
ry. More valuable to society than kings or princes, because more stable and hope 
inspiring, the very good, the very naughty, the very imperishable bishop. King- 
doms may be overthrown in the mad war of human strife, but the bishop keeps his 
peace with us today, the one really imperishable dignitary of the darksome past. 
A most gaudy phantom is he, who glides forth out of the wreckage of an old and 
decaying civilization, to erect anew today his gilded spires and consecrated altars. 
The bishop never dies. When at midnight in 410 A. D., the savage host of Huns 
burst through the gates of imperial Rome, butchering her citizens and laying the 
ancient city, its temples, its princely mansions in ruins, the bishop survived the 
shock. It was as though amid the ashes of blood-drenched streets, ruined temples, 
and desecrated altars, that the great wizard of the spaceless skies had shaken his 
magic wand, conjuring forth from that pall of smouldering fire, blood and ruin, a 
phantom figure, clad in cassock and mitre, commanding it to arise and stand forth 
forever, to erect anew its consecrated altars. What wonder indeed that this gorgeous 
poppet of byegone centuries, a personage so valuable and conspicuous in feudal his- 
tory, one who has done so much to dignify and make stable society, both past and 
present should not have been accorded a place in old-time playing cards, devised as 
they were in the very meridian period of the bishops consequence. 

Let us trust however that the public may welcome the debut of his reverence in 
playing cards with as much complaisance as becomes his sanctity, thus compensating 
this arm-in-arm fellow with kings, for centuries of slight. Since then a cursory 
glance backward in history reveals how deeply society is indebted to the bishop, 
adding to it as he has so much worth, stabihty and dignity, not only in the past, but 
also the present, we bestow on him the same value and consequence in our new card 
kingdom, (ot itself a sufficient miniature of feudal society,) that he occupied in me- 
diaval days, establishing him as fourth rank card, and making each bishop worth 
two points in the game. 

Let no one fancy that the bishop has fallen into evil company in our card packs. 
He is no whit more out of place there, than on the Chess board, in history, or in the 
drama of which the card game should, in some measure, be but a reproduction. If 
the bishop then adds lustre to the drama and to society, let us enjoin him to shed 
some little ray of his uplifting influence athwart our card tables. 



The Knight* 

Beginning at the king and descending in the scale of feudal society, passing the 
bishop in our downward course, we come to the knight, by all means the most inter- 
esting and romantic character which the shadowy past has bequeathed to us. As a 
distinctive character in history the knight sprung into existence about the loth cen- 
tury, an age in feudal history which shows up in the strongest light the injustice and 
tyranny of the lords and barons. At that time the entire realm may be said to have 
been in absolute posession of the nobles who fortifying themselves in strong castles 
plundered each other as well as the common people with rapacious lawlessness, 



BISHOPS WHIST. 9 



bidding defiance even to the king. An age characterized by oppression, superstition, 
and wrong, when the strong felt themselves entitled to hold as much as they could 
wrest from the weak, and needless to say in such a state of affairs the defenceless 
were exposed to great and continual danger. 

Amid the turbulence and disorder of such a state of society came forward certain 
brave knights vowing themselves to defend the helpless. Their example being con- 
tagious a great body of knights soon sprung into existence to side with the op- 
pressed. At first, each knight served a long apprenticeship at the castles, taking 
charge of the horses, as well as their lords armor, besides various other offices, 
such as carving at the table, and were at length confirmed as knights, a ceremony 
requiring many religious ceremonies which ended by striking the knight with the 
flat of the sword. From that hour he was a free man, at liberty to roam the wide 
world over whithersoever he would, always bound by a vow to defend his country 
and religion, and to succor the helpless. Halting wherever night overtook him, 
paying no toll, vassal or slave to no lord or baron, belonging to no one class in so- 
ciety, and needless to say, always welcome at every castle gate and freely enter- 
tained so long as he chose to stay. However laughable the author Don of Quixote 
may have afterwards rendered the character of the knight, this same grim fellow 
sprang into existence as the very child of the most chivalric emotions which animate 
the human heart. Today, not a cut of ancient castles but that stands out in bolder 
relief and is rendered more impressive to us by the figure of a knight in mail loiter- 
ing in the shadow of its oldtime gateway. Ordinarily the knight did not rank very 
high in the scale offeudal society, but he always bore about him in his wanderings 
as much fear and respect as his renown and prowess might inspire. Oueerly enough, 
however, it sometimes came about through the shifts of fortune or circumstance 
that the knight outranked even kings and princes, in a way very peculiarly his own, 
for what is it to slay a king, but to outrank him, or to defend and deliver a castle, 
but to outrank that also. History affirms that the valor knights has often pre- 
served to kings their sceptres and to barons their castles. At the battle of Poictiers 
the French king threw down his gauntlet before a knight of Arras. Rufus, king of 
England, once riding in the forest was attacked and unhorsed by a knight who draw- 
ing his sword was about to despatch him when the king cried out hold! knave, I 
am the king of England. This one little incident affords us a very good example 
of the sometime occasions when the knight outranked the higher feudal dignitaries, 
simply by virtue of his immediate prowess. Nor are such incidents scarce in feudal 
history. Now the groundwork of feudal rank springs from different sources. The 
king ruled by virtue of his hereditary right descending from father to son, genera- 
tion after generation. The bishops station rested solely upon the supposed scanctity 
of his office, but the idea associated with the rank of the knight is that of valor. 
Nothing stands out plainer in history than the fact that the knight belonged to 
no one class in society and as the pack with knight, bishop, castle, is considered 
'n the light of a miniature offeudal society the same idea is carried out therein, for 
which reason the cut of the knight has no pip or spot, demonstrating that he be- 
longs to no particular class in card society, but simply to the pack or card kingdom 
at large. Again, since in ancient days the knight occasionally outranked kings 
and queens, as we have already shown, simply by virtue of instant prowess on some 
fortuitous occasion, we incorporate the same idea associated with the knight in 
Bishop's Whist and in one trick out of the thirteen make the knight outrank all other 
cards, high or low, of whatever suit, not excepting trumps. This one trick is styled 
the "Knights trick," the same being the last, or thirteenth trick, of every hand 
played, when the knight absolutely outranks all other cards. 



10 BISHOPS V\?HIST. 



THE ACE 

Abstractly speaking, the community at large may be said to be little else than a 
row of human figures mostly on dress parade, where every person's rank and social 
standing becomes as fixed and certain as the figures on the multiplication table. 
Equally certain it is that there exists, mathematically speaking, a strong resem- 
blance between the various individuals of society, insofar as their rank and influence 
upon each other is concerned, and the thirteen cards which go to make each suit 
of our old-time playing cards. The ace, or onespot, to speak with greater pro- 
priety, should after this mode of reasoning stand at the very foot of the class of 
thirteen cards, being primarly, nothing else than the onespot, the very lowest and 
humblest individual in card society. The twospot stands for a person of yet little 
more influence, the threespot, one of yet higher rank and consequence, and so on 
up to the King who in regal robes we should all say occupies the highest place in 
card realms. How comes it about then that this Utile interior onespot, designated 
the ace, should be placed in card games above the king and outrank him. Surely 
at first sight, this oddity or extravagance, seems to do violence to the natural order 
of things seen about us ia the world, quite as though we should render the figure 
one of greater value than the figure ten. What confounding of our senses is this 
when a onespot outranks the mighty King, robed in the majesty of regal garments. 
Let us go into the country, take a cock from the roost, bear him to the great bal- 
ustrade of the king's palace and loudly proclaim, "the cock outranks the King." 
Such extravagance would seem scarcely one whit less bizarre than that which places 
the ace, the very humble, insignificant, almost worthless little onespot, above the 
king in card games. Card packs let us bear in mind are, mathematically at least, 
little card kingdoms, no more or less. When however we take pains to analyze 
the varied qualities which make up the budget of human character the mystery or 
oddity of putting the onespot above the king clears up somewhat for we findqueerly 
enough that there lurks in the human mind a tendency to bestow great worth, 
power, or conseqnence upon odd, extravagant, or mysterious objects, diminutive 
though they may be. 

This queer disposition of the human mind becomes markedly noticeable in Orient- 
al literature wherein we so often see diminutive dwarfs, tiny fairies, or perchance 
decrepted old witches, insignificant enough in themselves as compared to the 
majesty and power of caliphs and princes, but w-ho by their mysterious art and 
incantations so often bring to naught the plans of mighty rulers. Many a delight- 
some fable or fairy story, in the world's literature has found its birth place in this 
same tendency of the human mind, to invest diminutive objects with startling 
powers. To bring out a clearer illustration of this same idea. How many of us 
in youthtime have not been so carried away with the extravagant antics of some 
circus clown as to glorify him for the time being, his ludicrous antics raising him 
in our approbation far above every sober and dignified object that we saw in the 
world. History presents one very notable instance of the exhalation of the odd 
and ridiculous, above the dignified, in CromwelPs day when they got together 
a parliment composed of the very dregs of the people. We all know how 
this stupid assembly sat in parliment hall promulgating for a brief season, law to 
the great English realm. LaFontaine uncovers this odd penchant of the human 
mind in very simple parlance when he says : 

Nous sommes tous d'Athene en ce point ; et moi-meme 
Au moment que je fais cette moralite 



BISHOPS WHIST. 11 



Si peau d'ane m'etait conte 

J'y prendrais un plaisir extreme. 

Whether the devisers of our first card games wittingly set the onespot above the 
king for Jie mere sake of oddity, perhaps none of us may safely affirm, but to make 
the onespot outrank the king simply because of its oddity or insignifience, comes 
quite within the scope of what would be termed, proper extavagance. That is to say, 
such ranking fairly exemplifies the freaky oddity of the human mind in its tendency 
to exalt the diminutive over the majestic. This same idea crops out on the Chess 
board where the queen becomes the most powerful piece. Provided we adhere 
rigidly to historical facts in the ranking of Chess pieces, a great margin for doubt 
obtrudes as to the propriety ot rendering the queen the most powerful personage. 
Who of us dares to stoutly argue that feudal chronicles pronounce the queen at all 
seasons, superior to the king. Had such been the fact that renowned profligate 
Henry the VIII, most surely would have lost his own head in place of so many 
of his queens losing theirs. We may not, however, be at a loss for a potent 
excuse why the queen may be invested with superior powers over the king in 
chess and this reason is borne of the same propriety which decrees the ace superior to 
the king in cards, that is, she may be given the superior powers simply by virtue of 
her suppposed arts, guiles and charms, precisely as in Oriential literature the witches 
and fairies outwit the great caliphs. So the ace may stand above the king with a 
sound propriety simply because ii represents the odd, the diminutive, outwitting, 
overtopping, outranking the majesty of the high and mighty. 

In supplying the castle and bishop to our card packs we then present the five prom- 
inent features which emphasised feudal life, king, queen, castle, bishop, knight. Now 
again, the question as to whether the castle may outrank the king, will stand full as 
much discussion as most of us imagine. James H was wont to say, "No bishop, 
no king," and yet with quite as much truth could be declared "no castle, no king,'' 
for away back in oldtime history the barons fortified themselves behind massive 
walls as the very safeguard and backbone of their soveriginity relying for their au- 
thority on the strength of their baUlements. Numerous instances in history show 
us chieftans, who ensconsed behind moat and turrtt bid defience to the foe so long 
as their castle gates held out. When Alexander sat down to besiege Tyre the 
Tyrin king bade him defience for seven long months and only gave up his crown 
and septre after the besiegers had broken down the ramparts. As a matter of fact, 
of course, the argument that the castle alone should at all times outrank the king, 
could not be long maintained. Nevertheless, the naked facts of history prompt us to 
declare that the castle alone might on some rare occassions, at least equal, or even 
outrank the king, with no very glaring impropriety. 

Assuming then that our card packs become to some considerable extent mini- 
tures of feudal society and rankings, the question may be asked, why not decree 
the following scale of rank, — king, queen, castle bishop, knight. Were such order 
to be established we oust the ace from its long established right and place as high- 
est card, ruling supreme over the king simply in virtue of representing the odd, 
ridiculous, extravagant, elements of human character which are as plainly declared in 
the history of mankind, as the heritage of kings. Supposing, however, the follow- 
ing order be decreed, ace, king, queen, castle, bishop, knight, we get in too many 
characters and fatally obscure the game. Nothing could so indubitably ruin a game 
as to crowd in so many characters that the mind should not be able at once, with- 
out effort or hesitation, to instantly comprehend the correct relation of the charac- 
ters. 

To the author of Bishop Whist the castle seemed indispensible to more fully ren- 



12 BISHOPS WHIST. 



der the card pack a miniature of feudal society, and since no feasible method of in- 
troducing the castle as a seperate character, offered itself, without crowding 
the characters, or disposessing the time honored ace of its rightful rank, the plan of 
uniting the castle and ace was adopted. This character, insofar as rank is con- 
cerned is still the ace as of old, standing above the king simply because it repre- 
sents the elements of the odd, the extravagant, the marvelous, characteristics which 
as we have shown the human mind is so often prone to set high over the dignified 
and great. Yet again, the castle-ace becomes the castle by proxy, introduced as a 
fulfillment of some idealism, and when united to the ace rendering the compliment of 
feudal dignitaries complete. The castle-ace can hardly fail of beautifying our new 
card kingdom to some extent, and to those who delight in the past, may kindle anew 
some pleasing fancies connected with that byegone era, the tragedies of which 
have garnished our literature with the master treasurers belonging to romance and 
the drama. 

The Author. 



PMRX SeCOND. 



THE GAME 

Bishops Whist is played with a full pack of 52 cards, containing as new or 
special cards, castle-aces, bishops, and knights without pips, showing that they 
do not belong to any one suit, but simply to the card pack as a whole. The first 
thing to do after the cards have been shuffled is to decide partners and who shall 
deal. Partners may be taken by mutual choice if agreeable to all, the cards may 
be cut, or thrown around the table, the two highest and two lowest playing together. 
The lowest bestows the deal. 

Before distributing the cards, the dealer lays the entire pack upon the table at 
his right, when his right hand opponent, proceeds to cut (i e lift up a portion 
of the cards). In so doing he must lift up more than four cards. The dealer 
himself now takes the topmost card of the packet underneath and lays it face up in 
the center of the table. This card forms the trump card and belongs to the dealer, 
and determines the trump suit for that hand. Thus it will be seen that the trump 
suit is shown before the cards are distributed around the table. Should this trump 
card so thown, happen to be a bishop the dealer's side is entitled to score one 
point for bishop trump honor cut. In case, however, that a knight chances to be 
thrown, the dealer names aloud the trump suit before he touches the pack. Having 
now established the trump suit for that hand, the dealer proceeds to distribute the 
cards, dropping the first card to his left hand opponent, next card to his partner, 
next to his right hand opponent, and lastly to himself, and so on around until the 
entire pack is distributed. The last card in the pack falls to his right hand 
opponent, and the dealer now draws the trump card, which has all this while laid 
face up in the middle of the table, to his side. The player at the dealer's left now 
plays a card, the dealer's partner plays next, then the player at the dealer's right, 
and the dealer last. The highest card of the suit led takes the trick (except on 
occasion when a knight chances to be played on the trick, or in thirteenth trick). 
The castle-ai:e is the highest card in its suit, king next, queen next, bishop next, 
then thti knight, then the 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2. Trumps are always the superior 
cards, as in old whist, except alone in the last or thirteenth trick of each hand, 
when the knight outranks all other cards, trumps not excepted. Whoever takes 
the trick leads first for next trick and so the play goes on in regard to the con- 
secutive play for trieks exactly as in old whist. Each player is obliged to follow 
suit if he can, except on one important occasion, viz; when a suit is led and you 
hold no other card of that suit except the bishop, you may (at will) hold back your 
bishop and pay a knight in lieu of the bishop. The play of knight for bishop, con- 
stitutes the "knights revoke," and is duly explained under that head. When a suit 
is lead and it comes your turn to play if you have no card of that suit you are at 
liberty to trump or throw on anyworthless card of any suit, as in old whist. This 
act is termed discard. All tricks over six counts one point as in old time whist, 
and in addition, each bishop counts two points to those who are able to display 
him among their trick cards at the close of the play for the hand. The understand- 
ing of this must be that each bishop is an honor, but yet counting nothing for 
the mere holding of him in your hand, that is, having a bishop dealt to you counts 



14 BISHOPS WHIST. 



nothing unless you manage to save that bishop in the play of the cards and produce 
him among your cards after the hand is played out. The deal goes around to the 
left as in old whist. Sixteen points are possible to be made at any one hand, 
eight points from bishops, two points for each, and seven points by tricks, and in 
addition, one point for bishop cut the dealer for trump card. The last, or thirteenth 
trick, of each hand played is the knighf s trick, wherein the knight outranks all other 
cards of whatever suit or grade, not excepting the ace of trumps. The last knight 
played on the trick outranks all other knights. In case no knight happen to be 
played on thirteenth trick, then the cards hold their usual rank. 

Twenty-five points constitutes a game, or as many more than twenty-five as may 
be won by either side in that hand wherein twenty-five points have been gained. 
Every hand dealt is required to be played out to the last trick and neither party 
can claim the game on gaining twenty-five points before the hand is played out. 
Example of last hand of a game : A and C stand at 24 — B and D at 22 points. 
Another hand is played entirely out, A C stand at 26 points, B D have 29 points, 
B D win the game. 



ABSTRACT OF THE GAME 

In order that the student may compare the salient points in Bishops Whist with 
the chief characteristics of old whist we present a brief of the new game : — 

1. Played by four players with a pack of 52 cards. 

2. Thirteen cards dealt to each player and thirteen tricks played, for each 
hand. 

3. All tricks above six count one point. 

4. Castle-ace highest card in each suit. 

5. Twenty-five points a game. 

6. No jacks or tens, as the bishop takes the place of the jack, and the knight 
ranks as a ten. 

7. Trumps superior cards, except in thirteenth trick. 

8. Bishop cut the dealer as trump card, counts dealer one point. 

9. Each bishop saved or captured from opponents, counts two points. 

10. Trump card turned and shown before the cards are dealt. 

11. Sixteen points possible in any one hand. 

12. Dealer sometimes obliged to choose the trump suit. 

13. Obliged to follow suit except in case of "knighfs revoke." 

14. iMay in some instances sacrifice a knight to save a bishop. 

15. Four cards (knights) which have no pip and hence belong to no one suit, 
but to the pack at large. 

16. Holding one or more knights cannot be compelled to part with them, but 
may (at will) hold them back throughout the play of the entire hand. 

17. Four cards in the game, (knights) any one of which ranks as a tenspot in 
any suit which leads (except trumps). 

18. Four cards which have no rank in the trump suit except in the last or 
thirteenth trick. 

19. Four cards (knights) anyone of which may stand as a guard to your bishop. 

20. Four cards (knights) any one of which led for a trick give all the players 
liberty to play any card of any suit they may please. 

21. Four cards (knights) any one of which may rank as supreme card in 
thirteenth trick. 



BISHOPS WHIST. 



15 



THE RANK OF THE CARDS, 



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9? 9? 




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Castle 




Knight 



Bishop 



The castle-ace is the highest card in its own suit. The king comes next, the 
queen next, with the bishop as fourth best in his own suit. Notice that the four 
highest cards, castle-ace, king, queen and bishop, are set apart merely to emphasize 
the fact that their rank is rigid and never varying under any circumstances. 

The bishop's rank never varies ; he is simply the fourth best card exactly as on 
the chess board. The bishop of trumps is styled the "cardinal" and always ranks 
as the fourth best trump Having disposed of the four highest cards of each suit, 
we come, next, in our downward course to the knight, whose powers are not so 
easily disposed of. For a short and moderately comprehensive statement the knight 
ranks next below the bishop in all suits except trumps. More plainly yet perhaps ; 
the knight ranks as a tenspot in any suit that leads except trumps. Next in order 
below the knight comes the 9, 8, 7, and so on down to the 2, as lowest card. The 
rank of the knight being at times so peculiar, requires an illustrated article under 
heading of "the knight" to which the student is referred. It may be said here that 
to acquire the game of Bishops Whist is but to gain a clear conception of the 
rank of the knight, all else is simple. 



LAWS OF THE GAME. 

FORMING THE TABLE. 

Similar Livvs may apply in the new game as govern in old whist, concerning 
minor details. Four players form a table, and partners may be determined by 
mutual choice, if agreeable to all concerned, if not, the players cut or throw around 
cards for partners. In cutting, the castle-ace is the highest card, king next, queen 
next, bishop next, with the knight ranking above the 9, and below the bishop. The 
two highest and two lowest play together. The lowest cut bestows the deal. In 
the event that two players cut cards of equal value, they cut again should these 
cards chance to be intermediate cards. Example • a. 7, two knights, and a king, 
are cut, the two knights cut agam and the lowest plays with the 7. If three players 
cut cards of equal value, they cut again, and if the fourth player has cut a higher 
card, the two lowest play together. The first original low card cut stands as origi- 
nal low. 

CUTTING THE TRUMP CARD. 

Having shuffled the cards the dealer now places the entire pack, backs up, on 
the table at his right hand, when his right hand opponent lifts any number of cards, 
conventionally not less than four. The dealer now raises the topmost card of the 
bottom portion of the pack and lays it face up in the center of the table, in plain 



16 BISHOPS WHIST. 



view of all the players. This card forms the trump card and establishes the trump 
suit for the hand. Thus, it is understood that the trump card is shown before the 
deal begins. Should this card happen to be a bishop, the dealer's side is entitled 
to score one point for bishops honor. The dealer, now, leaving the trump card in 
the center of the table, reunites the two packets, invariably placing the topmost 
packet underneath, and distributes the entire pack by one at at time beginning at 
the left hand as in old whist and dealing around the table. The last card dealt falls 
to the dealer's right hand opponent when the dealer draws the trump card which 
all this time has laid in open sight, to his side. He leaves this card face up on 
the table until it is his turn to play to the first trick, when he gathers it into his 
hand. The trump card must be taken into the dealer's hand before the first card is 
played to the second trick. 

ON CUTTING A KNIGHT FOR A TRUMP CARD. 

It must be laid down that whatever card is thrown for a trump card, such card 
belongs to the dealer as his inviolable heritage for that hand. The knight often 
proves a valuable card, invested on occasions with rare and distinctive powers, and 
since he carries no pip to indicate to what suit he belongs, it follows of very neces- 
sity, that when a knight is turned as trump card he cannot indicate any particular 
suit as trumps. A knight being thrown or turned as trump, the dealer following the 
regular order, lays this card face up in the middle of the table, and before touching 
the cards to deal announces in a clear and distinct voice what suit shall be trumps 
for that hand, exercising his own free will in thus naming the trump suit After 
announcing the trump suit, and never before, the dealer reunites the packets, being 
careful to place the topmost portion, (i e the cards which the opponents lift up) 
underneath, and proceeds to deal as usual, after which he gathers the knight into 
his hand. No harm occurs if the players make a note of the suit named as trumps 
as the trump is often forgotten and sometimes in dispute in the course of the play. 

THE DEAL 

Goes around to the left, each one dealing by turns. There must be a new deal, 
by the same dealer, if while dealing, any of the player's cards are thrown face up, 
or if one or more cards are found face up in the pack, or that he deals more or less 
than thirteen cards to any of the players and the mistake is discovered before the 
first trick is gathered in. 

THE MISDEAL. 

It is a misdeal : — 

I. If, when a knight is thrown as trump card, the dealer's partner touches any 
of his cards before the dealer announces the trump suit. 

II. If the dealer touches the pack before announcing the trump suit, (when a 
knight is thrown as trump card. 

III. If, after the trump card is thrown, the dealer, reuniting the two packets, 
fails to put the topmost packet underneath. 

IV. If, in raising the trump card, he faces up any of the cards underneath. 
V. If, in dealing, the last card in the pack fails to fall to his right hand 
opponent. 

VI. If he deals any card or cards face up, either to himself or any other players. 
The misdeal loses the deal which passes to left hand adversary. In the misdeal, 
if a bishop has been thrown for a trump card, the point for bishop cut is lost with 
the misdeal. 



BISHOPS WHIST. 17 



EXPOSED CARDS 

I. Are any cards displayed or led out of turn. 
II. More than one card played upon a trick. 
III. A card played upon any trick by mistake, or otherwise, and taken back 
into the hand before that trick is gathered in. 

IV. Any card whatsoever, dropped, or in any way laid upon the table out of 
the regular order of play. 

V. Exposed cards must be taken into the hand again. The penalty for ex- 
posed cards is the loss of two points to the delinquent's score. 

THE REVOKE. 

When a suit is led and you having a card of that suit keep it back, playing a card 
of some other suit, it is a revoke, or more simply yet, a denial of suit led. It is not 
a revoke, however, if a player| thinking he has no card of the suit led, plays a card 
of another suit, and discovering his mistake before that trick is gathered in, plays 
the right card. In such a case the players who may have played after him can with- 
draw their cards and not suifer the penalty of exposed cards. 

At the conclusion of the hand the claimants of a revoke may search all of the 
tricks. 

If any side charge a revoke upon its opponents and they mix their cards, before 
giving the accusers a chance to verify their charges, the revoke is established. No 
score made by a revoking side can win the game. The penalty for a revoke can be 
enforced for as many revokes as occur in the hand. The penalty of a revoke is the 
loss of four points to the delinquent's score. 

THE KNIGHTS REVOKE. 

The inevitable law in old whist that you must always follow suit whenever you can 
do so holds good in Bishops Whist, with but one important exception. This one 
exception is termed the "knights revoke," to which no penalty appertains. When a 
suit is led, trump or nontrump, and you hold no card of that suit except the bishop, 
you may refuse to part with your bishop, and instead, play a knight in lieu of your 
bishop. Should the suit come around again you may again refuse to play your 
bishop, and again drop on a knight, and so continue to play knights, in lieu of 
bishops, provided of course you are lucky enough to hold any knights. Trumps are 
not excepted in this rule, which is to say; suppose trumps lead and you hold the 
bishop of trumps and no other trump, you, holding a knight, may play him in place 
ot the bishop. Thus any knight, or any number of knights you may be lucky 
enough to hold, may be sacrificed, at will, to save your bishop. The historical 
reason for the knights revoke may be summed up as follows : James I of England, 
adopted it as his fixed maxim : no bishop, no king. To say, no king, was in feudal 
days, equivalent to declaring "no country." The knight was bound by an oath to 
defend both his religion and country, and since, without the bishop, neither king 
nor country existed, the bishop most fittingly symbohzed both religion and country. 
Since then the bishop stood for so much, both in religion and the state, and as the 
knight was bound by a vow to defend both, it becom.es most fitting that the knight 
in obedience to his sworn oath should sacrifice himself for his bishop. 

An illustration of the knights revoke may be of service ; suppose the following, 
hearts trumps : 



18 



BISHOPS WHIST. 




Bishops 



Castle 



tJ 



Ace 



Knights 



V 



4> » 



o o 
o o 



<r 


^ 








o 






Suppose hearts lead. B may play his l^ishop it he chooses, or having no other 
heart, he may drop either one of his knights (it matters not which one) in place of 
his bishop. Should hearts lead again, he may, holaing another knight, still refuse 
to part with his bishop, playing the last knight instead. Suppose clubs are led. 
B having no club may play the same knights in lieu of his bishop of clubs that he 
played to save his bishop of hearts. The simple of it is: you may play any knight 
to save a bishop of a7iy suit, provided you hold no other card of the suit except 
alone the bishop. Observe that this right of playing knights in lieu of bishops 
holds good in all the suits, trumps not excepted. 

THE PIPLESS KNIGHT 

As a preliminary statement which may go far towards unfolding what may seem 
to be the complex action and rank of the knight we remind the student that the 
•'bishop's pack" is assumed to be set after the pattern of feudal society, each 
character standing in his proper place in the class. The pack itself may therefore 
be looked upon in the light of a miniature feudal kingdom, and of very necessity 
the rank and action of the several court dignitaries must harmonize with their pro- 
nounced historical standing. We have already shown in the article on the knight 
contained in the first part of this work, how that prodigy stood absolutely free in 
mediaeval days, belonging to no one class in society, free to roam whithersoever he 
would, paying no toll, and bound only by a vow to defend nis country and religion. 
The brief of it is, that the knight belonged to no one class, but to the realm or 
kingdom at large, but to no one class or suit in that card kingdom. On the chess 
board the action o f the knight is peculiar, as he enjoys the sole and distinctive 
right to vault over any other piece on the board, not excepting the king. Hardly 
less peculiar and distinctive, although quite different in its fashion, can be regarded 
the action of the knight in Bishops Whist. The kr;i;,dii having no pip shows that 
he belongs to no suit in society, but to the pack or card kingdom at large. While 
the illustrations seem to point to the end of great complications connected with the 
rank of the knight, his action is really very simple. The rank and power of the 
"Pipless Knight" may be summarized as follows: 

1 . Any one of the four pipless knights when played, rank as a ten spot in any 
suit which leads (except trumps). The knight holds no rank in the trump suit ex- 
cept in the last or tlnrteenth trick, when the knight becomes the supreme card, out- 
ranking all other cards of whatever suit, trumps not excepted. Then for a concise 
statement holding good in the first twelve tricks of each hand : any kniglit ranks as 
a tenspot in any suit which may lead (except trumps). 

2. Since the kn'ght carries no pip and therefore belongs to no one suit, it 
follows, that the lead of any card of any suit, trumps or otherwise, cannot force you 
to play your knight. How can you lead any card of any suit and call out a knight 
to be played to your card (say a spade.) since the knight carries no spade pip and 
can swear that he is no relation of spades, no nore to clubs, hearts, and diamonds. 



BISHOPS WHIST. 



19 



The simple of it is : there is one card out of the thirteen which may be thrown to 
you at each deal which you are never on any occasion compelled to part with, but 
may if you choose, hold it back throughout the play of the entire hand. No suber- 
fuge of friend or foe, can force you to part with your knight. Of course it may 
happen that at the twelfth trick holding two knights, the only cards in the hand, you 
would be obliged to drop one of them on twelfth trick, or, holding two knights and 
your turn to lead you must of course, having no other cards, play a knight. 

3. The privileges of the knight however, suffer limitation somewhat. You 
are not privileged to deny suit and play a knight, except in the one instance of 
playing a knight in lieu of a bishop, (styled the knights revoke). It being your 
turn to lead howtiver, any trick whichever in the thirteen, you may (at will) lead a 
knight, this act being in no sense compulsory. 

4. When any player leads a knight, since the knight carries no pip he cannot 
command the other players to play a card of any particular suit. 

The simple rank of the knight is shown as follows in any of the first twelve tricks. 



Trick 1 



Knight 




Trick 2 



Castie Ace 




Trick I . A plays 3 of d, B plays knight, C plays 8 of d, D castle-ace of s. This 
trick belongs to B because any knight ranks as a tenspot in any particular suit which 
leads, except trumps. It matters not which one of the four knights B played here, 
none of them have any pip, and being all of the same pattern they cannot be distin- 
guished, the one, frorn the other. The ace of s has no rank in the diamond suit. 
Make D play the castle-ace, king, queen or bishop of diamonds, and he wins the 
trick- 

Trick 2. The trick belongs to C because both knights rank as a tenspot in the 
spade suit, in such case where two knights are played on the same trick the first 
knight outranks the others. The queen of C holds no rank in spades. Take trick 
2 again and make B play the queen of spades, then the trick would go to B. Make 
B play the bishop, king or castle-ace of spades and he wins the trick. 



20 



BISHOPS WHIST. 



Trick 3. 



Knight 



Trick 4. 




Knight 



Bishop 




A to lead, Clubs trumps. 



A to lead, Clubs trumps. 



Trick 3 belongs to D, because any trump takes any knight except in thirteenth 
trick when the knight outranks everything. 

Trick 4. Taken by C as the bishop ranks above the knight in his own, the 
bishop's, suit. Make D play queen of s and he wins the trick. 

When a knight is led for a trick, the irregular trick occurs which is explained as 
follows. 



THE IRREGULAR TRICK 

Occurs whenever a knight is led for a trick, in any trick except the thirteenth, 
and any player when it is their turn to lead, may (at will) lead a knight the same 
as any other card. In such event, as the knight carries no pip and par conseqence 
belongs to no suit he cannot compell the other players to play a card of any par- 
ticular suit, but they are each at liberty to play any card of any suit they please. 
Whist players will at once preceive the glaring error of leading a knight. Never 
lead a knight except compelled to do so is a good maxim to abide by at all seasons. 
Suppose you It-ad a knight, your knight has no pip and belongs to no one suit and 
cannot therefore call for any particular suit. Your left hand opponent now being 
free to play any card of any suit he pleases drops on the ^ce or king of trumps, 
your partner cannot overtrump, and the trick already won by your left hand oppo- 
nent goes by to his partner, who, at liberty to play any card of any suit he pleases, 
rejoicingly drops a bishop onto the trick already won by his partner. The caution, 
'•never lead a knight,'' loses some of its force, however, as the play for the hand 
gets on towards the close, as, often by that time the bishops have been played and 
are out of harm's way. Since the knights are almost invariably held either to guard 
the bishops, or to capture "last trick," it can almost be said that the • -irregular 
trick" never occurrs. Holding two knights at twelfth trick, and your turn to lead, you 
of necessity, are obliged to play a knight, when the "irreguLir trick" happens. 
Nevertheless, in spite of its infrequency, this trick must be understood by those 
who would master the game. Now to explain : When a knight is led in any of the 
first twelve tricks, the three following cards which are dropped on that triek rark by 
grade and not by suit (except trumps). In simp'e terms, any nontrump bishop 
takes the knight, any nontrump queen takes any non trump bishop, any nontrump 
king takes any nontrump queen and any nontrump castle-ace takes any nontrump 
king. Here it is : 



BISHOPS WHIST. 



21 



Trick 1. 




Trick 2. 

Castle Ace 



a 



n 



B D (^^ Castle 



Knight 

A to lead, Club trumps. 




Knight 

A to lead, Clubs trumps. 



Trick I . All nontrunip cards in this trick. B's bishop outranks the knight led 
by A. C's king- outranks B\s bishop and D's castle-ace outranks C's king. The 
trick belongs to D. It is very simple. 

Trick 2. A leads a knight — When a knight leads and two or more equal cards 
are played on that trick thejirs^ of those equals cards outranks those played after. 
Trick 2 belongs to C. Recollect that the thirteenth trick is never the "irregular 
trick" even should a knight lead. 

When, however, a knight leads, trumps played on the trick are superior cards. 



Trick 3. 




Knight 



A to lead. Diamonds trumps 



A leads a knight, B plays queen of c, C plays queen of h, D captures the trick 
with the trump. Suppose D had played any small card not a trump, the trick would 
have gone to B, because his nontrump queen played before C"s, out ranks it. Make 
D play a knight and the trick still goes to B. Make D play a king, of any suit, 
and it outranks both queens already played. 

When a knight is led and one, two, or three additional knights are played, the 
same general ruie of priority holds good. The first knight played outranks the 
others, except a'^ aireiuiy said in the "thirteenth trick" when the last knight out- 
ranks all others. 



22 BISHOPS WHIST. 



THE KNIGHTS, OR FORTUNES TRICK. 

Study the article on the knight contained in the first part of this work and you will 
comprehend how, in history, the knight sometimes outranked the higher dignitaries 
belonging to feudal society, not excepting the king himself, simply by gaining the 
physical advantage on some opportune occasion. Granting that a card pack may 
epitmoize feudal society ranking to a sufficient extent, to bestow on the knight su- 
preme power on some rare occasion during the play of each hand may be allowed 
as a fulfillment of the correct historical action of this character in a game. To 
say it very simply ; to make the knight outrank all other cards once in the play of 
each hand, is but to make the knight act in the card game precisely as he did in 
history, and so such action perfects his historical character in the game. Then in 
the last, or thirteenth trick, of each hand played is assumed to transpire the one rare 
occasion in which the knight may by virtue of his strength, daring, valor, overcome 
and outrank all the higher dignitaries, king, queen, etc. All the regular rankings 
and laws which have held good during the previous twelve tricks are now supposed 
to be set aside by the wrathful knight, who enters this thirteenth trick armed with, 
shield and battle-axe, to overawe and outrank all other niagnates of whatever grade 
or suit, not excepting the castle-ace of trumps, simply by virtue of his instant valor 
in this one rare occasion. The student will at once preceive how futile it becomes 
to keep in hand a high trump, or other high card, with which to capture "last trick'', 
which often contains one or more bishops, this high trump being valueless since the 
knight outranks it. 

At first glance it may appear that this thirteenth trick, which so completely sets 
aside the regular governing of the game, might be properly denominated the 
"irregular trick," but when we look further we see that while this trick nullifies the 
usual governings of the game, it nevertheless takes place at a stated and exact in- 
terval. Occuring with such exact regularity it cannot correctly be looked upon as ir- 
regular. In the play for "last trick'' should more than one knight be played, the last 
knight outranks all others before dropped. The card public will at once see that 
such ruling becomes imperative, in order to sustain the historical character of the 
knight. Should the usual order of play obtain in last trick, that is, the first knight 
played to outrank all others, such ruling v/ould be practically to elevate the knight 
to more than the value of highest trump. Never being obliged to part with a 
knight you need only to reserve a knight through the play of the hand, get the 
lead at twelfth trick, when the lead of a knight invests him with the undoubted 
power of a taump. There is more to the tale for if you make the fir-,t knight placed 
supreme in thirteenth trick this trick becomes a mere matter of state calculation and 
less a matter of chance or fortune, in truth, no more a matter of fortune than the 
previous twelve tricks, and consequently less related to the character of the knight. 
We must not put out of sight the fact that in all the goings about by the knight, the 
element of chance or fortune is as much linked with the galaxy of historical ideas, 
which go to make up his character, as his coat of mail. Not one act of herioc valor 
ever done by a knight in rescuing the defenceless but resulted from the mere hap- 
hazard chance of the hour, in short, nothing but an uncalculated shift of luck or 
fortune. 

Assuming then that we elevate the knight to the position of supreme card in one 
rare trick out of thirteen, to render his power and action in that trick as much a 
matter of pure chance or luck, better rounds out the entire circumference of histori- 
cal character attached to this mail clad prodigy ; that is, that his rank and action 
are pretty much controlled by the shifts of fortune alone. 



BISHOPS WHIST. 



33 



Let us see now about the working proprieties of the "knight's trick." The play 
for last trick, with the last knight played as supreme card, throws the entire play, 
not, into the hands uf any one knight, but into the hands of some one knight and 
fortune together. It invariably becomes a matter of vaguest speculation ior any player 
to calculate as to who shall capture "last trick." When it is ascertained who shall 
lead first card of thirteenth trick and par consequence which player must of needs 
drop the last card on the trick, even then, no one can settle the ownership of the 
trick until the last card be played. The why of it becomes clear when we consider 
that the last knight played takes the trick, and since no one can possibly know who 
holds a knight, no player can divine who will play the last knight until the cards are 
all dropped on the trick. Fortune and the knight alone seem to have, for the 
moment, gotten the swing wholly into their own hands. 

Yet for all that, the "knight's trick" is so utterly a matter of fortune, queerly 
enough, it influence upon the game as a whole, is to infuse more of the element of 
skill, for all through the game one is constantly preparing for the haphazards and 
uncertainties of this trick. Particularly is this true at, say, about tenth, or eleventh 
trick, when the players make haste to get the lead and play a winning card, perhaps 
a winning trump, which if held until ''last trick," would become valueless. Thus 
we see that while "thirteenth trick" is of itself pretty much an uncontrollable hap- 
hazard, subject to the caprice of dame fortune alone, it really exerts a most salutory 
influence upon the game as a whole by calling out a greater display of skill in the 
twelve tricks that precede it. 

No play in the game will be found to so enliven the mind with sensations of 
pleasureable surprise and unlooked for happenings, as the "knight's trick." As the 
play for the hand nears the close the players instinctively reahze that "last trick" 
belongs to the knight and fortune, and that while in the previous twelve tricks they 
may guide and even dictate to a great degree, the luck of the play, that now once 
in the entire play dame fortune wantonly gathers all the debris of unclaimed fortune 
to herself and capriously bestows her favors upon whoever she will. So little 
obscurity hngers about "last trick" that any illustration seems superfluous. 



THE knight's trick. 
Bishop 




Knight 



A leads ace of trumps, B plays knight. C plays bishop and D captures the trick 
with a knight, being the second and last knight dropped on the trick. In case no 
knight whatever chance to fall on thirt*;enth trick the cards retain their usual rank, 
witii tiumi>s superior to all suits. 



34 BISHOPS WHIST. 



Methods of Play. 

Four main objects are indicated in play. 

1. The play to catch your opponents bishops. 

2. The play to save your own bishops. 

3. The play for tricks. 

4. The play directed to capture "thirteenth trick". 

During the first half of each hand and in tact so long as any bishops remain un- 
played the great object in play is to catch these important dignitaries each counting 
two points to the side which secures them. No less important of course is it to 
protect and save the bishops you chance to hold in your own hand. This method 
is at once so simple that little need be said. The character of your lead, high card 
or low card is determined by the single fact of whether you hold the bishops of that 
suit. Holding high cards of a suit castle-ace and king without the bishops of the 
same suit you boldly swing, playing castle-ace to catch the bishop of that suit. If 
your partner holds the bishop of that suit he will put it on your castle-ace and thus 
you gain 2 points in the game at once. Holding high cards or a suit with the 
bishop your play is very opposite. Let the student select out the following cards. 

B's HAND. 
The Ace, Bishop, Four of Hearts. 
" Bishop, Queen, King of Spades. 
" Castle- Ace, King, Five, Three of Diamonds. 
" Six and Four of Clubs. 

In diamonds lead castle-ace, then king, to catch the bishop of that suit. In 
spades lead king, in hopes to get the castle-ace out on the first trick and 
when spades come around the second time, you, holding queen and bishop, 
can play your bishop and thus save him. In hearts, lead the 4, in hopes to get 
out the king and queen on the first trick. When hearts come around again, as 
you hold castle ace, you may take with your bishop. 

As all tricks over six count one point the astute player will keep his weather eye 
cast to securing a trick or two, any time. You may often accomplish a trick at 
once when delay would inflict loss, when holding queen only, you lead queen. 
Often the opponents will hold back castle-ace and king and you then make your 
queen capture the trick- 
Thirteenth trick, is usually of far greater importance than others, for it not un- 
frequently falls out that two bishops come down upon it which are captured by the 
lucky knight. Do not be too anxious to sacrifice a knight to save some bishop, who 
perhaps may afterwards fall into some snare laid by the antagonist. 

The importance of the thirteenth trick can always be estimated by the watchful 
player who knowing how many bishops have been played during the game can 
determine exactly how many bishops must fall on the trick and consequently its 
worth. Suppose two bishops come down on "last trick,'' the trick is worth four 
points in bishops since each bishop counts two points in the game. 

Very important to keep in mind at all stages of the game how many bishops and 
knights have been played. The twelth trick is almost always an important trick 
and may very properly be styled the "strategitic trick." Nothing will conduce 
more to your prosperity in the game then to be able at 12th trick to possess a 
correct inventory of the number of bishops and knights still unplayed. It not 
untrequently happens that two and even three bishops remain unplayed at the 



BISHOPS WHIST. 



25 



late hour of 12th trick and a knight in hand may often capture them all. A simple 
illustration will serve to impress this lesson on the mind. Now with spades as 
trumps, it is the 12th trick, each player has two cards in hand, three bishops and 
two knights are yet unplayed. 



Twelfth trick. 





<> 












c 

B I 

A 


>B 



Bishop 




B to lead, 

B leads sis of diamonds, 

C plays five of diamonds, 

D plays king of hearts, 

A has not yet played to the trick. 



Knight 



A holds the bishop of clubs and a knight, two other bishops are still unplayed, 
and it makes no sort of differnce to A whose hand those two bishops are in. A 
may take this trick with his knight, when being compelled to lead his bishop for 
13 trick, he will lose him as one knight out of A's hand is yet unplayed. Let A 
throw his bishop on this trick which of course loses him, but since B will then cap- 
ture this trick, B must lead first for 13th or knights trick, when A's knight coming 
on to the trick as last knight wins the trick and the bishops yet unplayed which 
must come down on last trick. 

DISCARD 

When a suit is led and you have no card of that suit you remain at liberty to 
throw any worthless card on the trick. This act is termed discard. Writers on 
old whist tell us that you are to discard from your strongest, or weakest suit, your 
choice depending on strength in trumps. In Bishops whist, however, the principle 
is very opposite and far more simple ; you generally discard from a suit of which 
you do not hold a bishop. The idea is to get rid of the cards of that suit and very 
likely when that particular suit comes around somebody will of course be obliged to 
put on their bishop, when you holding no cards of that suit may of course play on 
a trump and capture his reverence. Some discretion must be exercised about this 
discard for in case you hold four cards of that suit the discard of one of them will 
not lessen the number so that you will be able to trump for you would still remain 
with three cards Such discard would be useless, nor do you discard high cards of a 
suit ( q, k, a ) because thtse cards are commanding cards of that suit and will of 
themselves catch the bishop. The general summing up of the rule on discard 
is, — discard from that suit of which the bishop is not yet played, and in which you 
hold not more than three cards. Notice that a players discard must be negative 
evidence that he does not hold the bishop of that suit, of which he threw away a 
card. 

ON TRUMPS 

Authors on old whist tell us that the management of trumps is the most difficult 
of any at table and a complicated net-work of leads, and signals to lead, has been 



26 BISHOPS WHIST. 



constructed, most perplexing and difficult to moderate players. Many a game 
is lost, whist authors affirm, by the player who, at his wits end throughout the first 
half of the hand, stumbles at last, confused and uncertain over the right play of 
trumps. In Bishops whist this complex system of play and echoes cannot be put 
into practice, nor do disastrous results follow the indescriminate play of trumps. 
The use of trumps assumes simple phrases, which plays are nothing more than to 
capture tricks, as circumstances may demand andwithall to hinder the opponents 
from saving their bishops. 

TRUMPING FOR PARTNER 

When your right hand opponent leads a card of any suit of which you are void, 
and at the same time you mistrust your partner may hold tlie bishop of the suit led, 
you put your best trump on the trick. The sense of such play being, of course, 
that you capture the trick at once, when partner may put his bishop on your trump, 
thus securing the bishop. There are sometimes exceptions to this rule, as, when 
you hold the bishop of trumps and only one or two other trumps, when to play a 
trump in such case would be to unguard your bishop. 

PROPERLY ONLY TWELVE TRUMPS 

Since the knight ranks as a tenspot, only in the non-t^ump suits, and claims no 
rank whatever in the trump suit, it follows without argument that trumps are only 
twelve cards long the, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, bishop, q, k, ace, twelve cards in all. 
True the knight may rank in the trump suit and in ail other suits in fact in the last 
or thirteenth trick, being then supreme card over all others. But the sense of a 
trump card must be taken as a card which can be used as a trump throughout the 
play of the entire hand, or practically all of it, hence the trump suit can be said to 
be but twelve cards long. 

THE SOMETIMES HALF KINSHIP OF THE KNIGHT TO TRUMPS 

The knight bears a pretty half relation to trumps and to all the suits in fact. 
Keep in mind the knights peculiar prerogative i. e. When you hold only the 
bishop of the suit led (^and at same time a knight) you may deny to play your 
bishop and play a knight. Then when you take up you hand and see both bishops 
and knights keep in mind that if hard pressed to play your bishop, your knights 
belong to the bishop suit and and may be played in lieu of them, thus lengthening 
out the suit. 

NO ESTABLISHING A SUIT 

In old whist when you hold several cards of a suit, five or more, you proceed 
usually to disarm the opponents by drawing out the trumps, when you lead your 
suit, and since trumps are now all played, your suit captures perchance six tricks. 
This method of play is called "establishing a suit'' and forms a great backbone 
system of play in old whist around which are grouped many strategies and comlica- 
tions. The peculier rank of the the knight in the new game as well as the motive 
to play at once high cards of any suit to catch the bishop precludes if not obliberates 
the semblance of any such play. Keeping in mind the fact that any knight ranks as 
a tenspot in any suit which may chance to lead, except trumps, and as you may at 
will hold one or more knights throughout the entire play of the hand, never being 
obliged to part with them, it follows 'clearly enough that generally there are four 
cards any one of hem which may rank as a tenspot in any non-trump suit which 
leads. Very plainly now: you are dealt six diamonds, the 5, 8, 9, q, k, castle-ace. 
Very well! You play castle-ace, then king, then queen. Partner leads trumps 



BISHOPS WHIST. 



27 



and exhausts them. You now get the lead and play the 9 of diamonds. Trumps 
are now exhausted and your 9 so played, in old whist, would be as good as a 
trump. Not so in the new game for perchance your left hand opponent having now 
no diamonds is of course at liberty to play any card of any suit he pleases. He 
then drops a knight on your 9 of diamonds /<?r/"^r^^ it captures the trick because 
any knight ranks as a tenspot in any suit that leads, except trumps. In order to 
establish a suit in bishops whist you must exhaust the suit with small cards and 
remain with high cards, such as bishop, queen, k, ace, cards that outrank the 
knight. 

There is however such practical play as establishing the trump suit, and it may 
be said to happen occasionally. Suppose you held six trumps, the 2, 3, 4, q, k, 
castle-ace, you play the three highest cards and clear out the suit, when you lead 
the 9. Your left hand opponent now holding no trumps may play any card of any 
suit, and he drops a knight on the trick. The knight is valueless in this jinstance 
because the knight holds no rank in the trump suit, except in "thirteenth trick" 



A hand will now be played. 
to deal. 



BISHOPS WHIST 

The players are 



seated at the table in order, C 



D 



B 

The cards having been shuffled, C lays the entire pack upon the table, at his 
right, within easy reach of his right hand opponent who lifts a portion of the cards 
(cutsj raising more than four cards in this act of cutting, C takes the topmost card 
of the packet underneath and lays it face up in the center of the table in plain 
view of all. This card proves to be the 5 of clubs and designates the trump card 
and suit for this hand. C now proceeds to deal the cards, one at a time, begin- 
ning at his left as in old whist and dealing around thirteen cards to each player. 
The last card in the packet falls to his right hand opponent, when C draws in the 
5 of C leaving this card face up on the table until after the first triek is played for 
A to lead. 



A's Hand. B's Hand. C's Hand. 


D's Hand. 


h 
d 
c 

s 


queen, bisliop, 

castle-acc, bishop, 4 

8,9, 

castle-ace, 2,4, 6, 

Two Knights. 


castle-ace, 9, 6, 5, 

8,9, 

bishop, 3, queen, 

king, 5, 7, 9, 


2.3, 

king, queen, 3, 5, 

castle-ace, king, 4, 5 

bishop. 

Two Knights. 


king, 4, 7, 8, 
2, 6, 7, 
2, 6, 7, 
queen, 3, 8, 



Notice that C holds only the bishop in spades, but the two knights make the suit 
three cards long, in case C wishes it so. When the S suit comes around C may 
(at will) make the "knights revoke" twice A also holds two bishops poorly guarded, 



BISHOPS WHIST. 



(hearts and diamonds.) The two knights assume kinship with the bishop, when no 
card of the bishop's suit remains, but the bishop, as we shall see. 



Trick 


1, A to lead. 


H 




9? 


A 
C D 


s? "<^" 


s? 


B 


<p <7 




<^ ^ 






^ 






^ <;> 





Trick 2, A to lead. 



a 



Castle 
Ace 



$ 






A 

C D 

B 


♦ 

♦ 
^ 


Knight 


^ « 

♦ 
^ ♦ 





A leads queen, D plays 4, B plays 5,C plays 2. — This trick goes to A — A led 
queen in hopes to get out the castle-ace and king on the first round when he could 
have saved his bishop on the second round of the suit. Were it not for the knights 
his bishop would now be absolutely without protection. 

Trick 2. A leads castle-ace, D plays 3, B plays 5, C plays knight, A\s object in 
leading castle-ace of course was to catch the bishop, B since he held no other cards 



of the spade suit but bishop, executed the 
bishop. 



■'knights revoke" thus proteting his 



Trick 3, A to lead. 



O O 



Trick 4, B to lead. 
















A 





C D 





B 





0.0 
0^0 




o o 




* 




A 

C D 

B 


i:i 



Knight 



Trick 3 goes to B, cheaply enough. All the players underst;ind that the lead of a 
low card early in the hand indicates one of two things viz., that the leader has the 
bishop of that particular suit or that his holding is characterized by great poverty. 

B leads king of s. C plays knight. A plays 2 D plays 8. 

Trick 4 goes to B — Here again we see how valuable a card the knight often be- 
comes for C has refused to part with his bishop and sacrificed a knight in lieu of 
bishop (knights revoke) All the players know to a certainty now that C has the 
bishop of spades. 



BISHOPS WHIST. 



29 



Trick 5 


B to lead. 


Knight 






% 






V\\..... 




~'^ A 


9? ^ 




) D 
B 



Trick 6, B to lead. 



^ 


A 

C D 

B 




Bishop 



tJ 



Castle Ace 



B leads castle-ace. C plays 3. A plays knight. D plays 8. 

Trick 5 goes to B- B plays castle-ace of hearts with the sole object of catching 
the bishop of that suit. A having parted with his queen in the first trick has now 
no cards in hearts but the bishop and holding two knights he very properly makes 
the knights revoke. This saves his bishop for the time being. 

Trick 6— B leads 9 of s. C plays bishop, A plays 6, D plavs queen. This 
trick goes to D as the queen outranks the bishop. Trick 6 shows the sometimes 
evil attending the play of a low card as opponents will sometimes make the bishop. 



Trick 7, D to lead. 



Bishop 



4. 4. 


A 




C D 


4.__4.J 


B 




V ^ 




^ ^ 



Trick 8, C to lead. 



*A* 



Caslt 



^ 



Ace 



4. 4. 

A 

C D 

D 



•!• 



Trick 7. — D plays king of h, B plays 6, C trumps, A plays bishop. — This trick 
shows the proper use of trumps, i. e. to play to catch opponents bishops, C takes. 
A might have kept his bishop and again made the knights revoke, i. e. played 
knight in lieu of bishop, but it is well worth considering whether you part with 
your last knight to save the bishops. Recollect the knight is the supreme card in 
last trick and A also holds bishop of diamonds almost unguarded and may yet 
need his last knight to protect that bishop. 

Trick 8. — C leads castle-ace, A plays 8, D plays 2, B plays 3, C is simply 
swinging to catch the cardinal. This trick goes to C. 



30 



BISHOPS WHIST. 



Trick 9, C to lead. 



Trick 10, C to lead. 




a 



A 


o 


C D 




B 





0^0 

























Trick 9. — C plays king of C, A plays 9, D the 7, B the queen ; C takes. C con- 
tinues to swing for the cardinal forcing B to part with his queen of trumps. The 
bishop of trumps now remains as the best trump not played and can B get a chance 
to lead him before the thirteenth trick comes off he may save him. In the maels- 
trom of last or fortunes trick, so soon now to occur, chance fortune will dispose of 
B's bishop unless he makes good haste to secure him at once. 

Trick ro goes to A as castle-ace outranks king. 



Trick 11, A to lead. 



Trick 12, D to lead. 













A 

C D 

B 







Bishop 




4. 4* 

4. 4. 



A leads 4 of s, D plays 6 of c, B 7 of s, D 5 of D. This trick goes to D who 
makes haste to play a winning trump, when he can, as trumps to win must be 
played before "last trick" as then, the knights outranks all cards of whatever suit. 

Trick 12. As A had no spades he was at liberty to play either knight or bishop, 
on this trick. He knows that only one knight remains unplayed, that that knight 
being in his own hand will certainly capture next trick. He also understands that 
bishoppf trumps is yet unplayed and consequently that although he loses a bishop 
on this trick he captures another one in the next trick to conpensate. This trick 
very well illustrates the interesting and somewhat dramatic situation that concenters 
about twelth and thirteenth trick If A plays knight on this trick, in lieu of bishop, 
he loses both tricks, and also the bishop of trumps which is sure to come down on 
last trick. 



BISHOPS WHIST. 



31 



Trick 13, C to lead. 



Knight 



o:^ 




Bishop 



C leads queen d, A plays knight, D plays 6 of d, B plays the cardinal. 

A's knight captures the cardinal with "last trick". Incase no knight had been 
played on this trick the cardinal would have taken the trick as when no knights 
chance to be dropped on "thirteenth trick"' the cards retain their usual rank with 
trumps the superior cards. 



ROQUET, 

[DANA'S PAT.] 
NOT K G757i^BL.ING GKT^E. 



12345 



10 



15 



20 



Tally row 
King row 



King row 
Tally row 




30 hole 

31 hole 



12345 



31 hole 
30 hole 



10 



15 



20 



25 



Roquet is a two handed game of loo points to the game and is played with a 
fall pack of 52 cards. The score is kept with pegs on a board 13 inches long by 
8 wide, as shown. The middle space on this board is called the livret space be- 
cause four cards are laid thereon, face up, at each deal. There are six little posts 
about 1-4 inch high on this space put there to keep the four cards alluded to apart. 

On either side of this middle space is seen two strips of wood about two inches 
wide, each pierced with the same number of holes in exactly the same order. The 
inside row of holes is larger, numbered from 5 to 100, and named the king row 
each hole on the king row represents 5 holes on the smaller row. The outside row 
of holes on each side is smaller in size and numbers exactly forty five, all counted, 
and is separated into divisons of 5 holes like a cribbage board. Notice that this 
outside row is single from the ist up to the 15th hole, from there out to 30th the 
holes are double. This row is called the tally ?'ow because the count for each 
hand is kept on it. After the play for the hand is over each player counts up the 
number of holes he has won on the tally row and for every 5 points he has there 
gained he takes one hole on the king rov»^. Suppose you played a hand in Roquet and 
won 25 points, keeping the score on your tally row ; when the hand is played out 
you move your king peg to No. 25, then set your tally peg back as at the begin- 
ning, ready to score the count for a new hand. Your antagonist makes up his 
count in the same way on his side of the board. Suppose he had made 35 points 



ROQUET. 



in the play of the same hand he would set his king peg on 35, and then set his tally 
peg back ready to score the count for a new hand. Thus you see the tally peg 
goes back every hand, but the king peg never goes back. 



+ 


Ji^ 


* 4^ ^ 




* ♦ 


♦ ♦ 


ii 




4 




♦ 




* ^ 




^ 


4- 


* > 


* -fc 




f * 


* ♦ 


IJU^^j 




9 O 



^ 

<^ 



oU 







Eight cards are dealt to each player and at the same time four cards are laid, face 
up, on the middle of the board. A trump card is then turned as shown. The 
game consists in the play for tricks, and after that, discard. Two cards make a 
trick and in the play for the trick the ace is the highest card, king next, queen next, 
and so on down as in whist. Trumps are superior to all suits. After taking a 
trick, and never before, a player may take pairs, sequences, flushes, etc., out of his 
hand and discard them, thereby executing high counts. A cribbage player can 
learn Roquet in one evening. 

THE ROQUET BOOK 

The Roquet book is gotten out on a new plan so designed as that any one can 
learn the game from the book alone. It begins with simple illustrated lessons 
showing all the counts in the game, and from that goes on with illustrated hands 
played out by A and B. In these printed hands contained in the last half of the 
Roquet book, every move the player makes beginning with the cut for deal, every 
trick card played, every discard made, every hole in which the players stick their 
pegs, in fact, every move in the game is exactly and explicitly printed out. All two 
players have to do is to seat themselves place the board between them, cut, deal 
and then go on and play being guided wholly by the printed instructions in the 
Roquet book. Six hands are thus played out, great pains being taken that in these 
hands all of the salient features of the game be brought out. We say to you and to 
the world at large, "Anyone can learn Roquet from the book without one word of 
verbal instruction from anyone." Do you wish to devote one evening to learn 
Roquet? 

The Game 

The constitution of Roquet admits of three subdivisions of play ; primary play ; 
second degree, and great campaign. 

Primary Play 

This is the simplest play known to the game and consists in the play for a 
quick coup, or "out," on pairs flush etc; the play for the 15th hole, or 15 hole and 



34 ROQUET. 



"out," at the same time. Beginners must always acquire this play as a stepping 
stone to higher achievements. This easy play makes up what might be styled the 
every day life of the game for the majority of hands dealt out are best adapted to 
such play. Beginners get it into their heads that primary play comprehends the 
entire outline of the game, little dreaming that coup, or "out,'' has its opposite 
play, i. e., up the board. Primary play is easily learned, has so many pleasing com- 
binations, allows such freedom for choice, is so sprightly, affords such multitudi- 
nous combinations and surprising contretenipes, that it is pronounced thoroughly 
enjoyable, and quite suffices of itself for the body of Roquet players. Many play 
the game always on these simple lines, indeed Roquet may always be played so 
and its highers possibilities ignored and dragged down to the level of the common- 
place. This is the result of a lack of penetration or ability to perceive the more 
brilliant strategies for if the players are unable to discern or calculate great cam- 
paigns, they must perforce adopt lesser strategy. Still it must always be kept 
in mind that for all primary play appears so simj^le it may and often does, rank as 
first class play, all depending upon the one fact of whether such simple play be ex- 
ecuted rapidly or not. Then it can be said in Roquet that one may adopt simple 
methods of play and provided you are able to execute those manoeuvres quickly 
they merge into the most brilliant play in the game Needless to say that a quick 
coup on pairs beats any sort of higher play if the higher play be delayed in execu- 
tion. 

SECOND DEGREE 

By this expression must be understood such methods of astute play as call for 
deeper insight into the structure of the game and which demands more skill to ex- 
ecute ; such methods as are but rarely comprehended by moderate players. Second 
degree takes in the play for the trump card in pairs or sequences, the play for 
the"big out" as vv'ell as the managem.ent of four cards of a kind, and the complica- 
tions grouped about the conjunction at 15th hole. 

Many who fancy themselves good players dull here in second degree lines. Most 
begmners on attempting the "big out" and getting left with a fist full of trump 
cards which now only go across the table to swell opponents pile of game cards aban- 
don this line of strategy and play there trump cards for tricks. Nevertheless, second 
degree ranks high in the arena of Roquet strategies and in the hands of able tacti- 
cians offers at times brilliant fields lor generalship ; attempted by iaexperts it too 
often turns out a lee shore to w^recked fortunes. 

THIRD DEGREE 
Comprehends the "great campaign"" i. e., to win 15th hole first, refuse the 
trump card, go on and win 31st hole before the opponent can gain 15th, when you 
score 9 points to 40th hole; the story of your generalsliip is yet but half told for 
you now stand close up to 46 hole, i. e. (15th hole on the home stretch) which 
when gained gives 10 points, sending your peg on to 56 hole when if you count 
"most cards" you achieve 61 or more points in the hand, thuscompleting the most 
brilliant manoeuvere possible in Roquet. Most players on gaining 15th hole fancy 
that, of course," they must pull the "Trump Card" little dreaming that, some- 
times, on that card iiinges a possible score of 61 points, as against 25 or possilde 
28 in the hand. Beginners do not easily comprehend this great coup nor is it best lo 
attempt to teach them at first. In fact very few Roqnet players rise equal to a c'car 
understanding of the chances which render probable this best play. One might as 
well look for statesmen among the little-tatllers of a country village os U> search among 



ROQUET. 



35 



moderate players for one capable of weighing the possibilities of this coup. To be 
able at all times to calculate the chances of executing the '<great campaign" alone 
stamps the thoroughbred Roquet player. 

SCIENTIFIC ROQUET. 

An advanced work on the game : treats of alllhe higher branches of play, such as 
moderate players do not comprehend. Do you wish to accomplish yourself on all 
the constitutional methods and rulings as promulgated by the author. If you do, 
remit 35 cents and we mail you a copy of Scientific Roquet. We do not care how 
long you have played Roquet, we propose to give you pointers, that is our business. 
The work will be out soon, on extra heavy paper, tinted covers. Particular pains 
has been bestowed on "second degree" -great campaign," the play of hands con- 
taining four of a kind involving/^/// ^/^^^^, as well as the complication grouped 
about the conjunction at 15 th hole. Recollect that Scientific Roquet treats of phases 
of the higher play that are not developed in the Roquet book. If, however, you 
do not wish for a Roquet board remit 25 cents and we mail a copy of the Roquet 
book. 

THE PRETTIEST WAY TO LEARN ROQUET 

Is for three or more persons to learn together. Let two players seat themselves, 
the board between them, deal and handle the cards while another reads off the 
lessons in the Roquet book. In this way three, four or indeed a room full of per- 
sons can all learn the game together. 

THE PRIZE 5.00 GOLD PIECE ROQUET HAND. 

A's hand shows only the backs of his eight cards ;'~r^ can guess what cards A 
holds as well as you can, and that is not saving much. 



A's hand 




B's hand 






.c^^ 



o o 


o o 



% 



J i'^r^^^i 






urn 



ROQUET. 



We have a $5.00 gold piece, U. S. mint, 1882. We offer this prize to any chess, 
whist or other club in the U. S. (outside the limits of Vermont) who, before Jan. 
I. 1900, purchases one of our crown Roquet boards (together with the Roquet 
book) and who first sends us the best explanation for the play of BVs hand, based 
on the three postulations which follow. Answers must be given to all the queries, 
I, 2, 3, in order, written in plain hand, and not exceeding 100 words to each query. 
Printed slips will be sent to all competitors giving winning reply, and name of 
winning club. All answers must be in before July i, 1900 and addressed to 
Author of Roquet, Northfield, Vermont. 

This prize will be augmented at the rate of 25 cents for each club that competes, 
over twelve in number, up to fifty. That is there will be a I5.00 gold prize any- 
how, in case only one club enters the contest. In case fifty clubs compete, thirty- 
eight clubs over twelve, at 25 cents each would amount to $9.50, which, added to 
the original prize of $5.00, sums up ^14.50, cash. This ofier is open only to the 
clubs of the U. S. 

Position of the tally pegs A's in ist hole 13's in 3d. 

I. A leads queen of clubs, — How should B play and why? 

2. — Suppose A first lead be the 9 of diamonas ; B then plays the 2^ of clubs ; A 
takes the trick, scores i point for it, and raising the king of diamonds from the 
livret discards, a pair of kings royal, five points, scoring to 7th hole; B's draw card 
after this trick is the queen of hearts ; A now leads for the second trick with the 7 
of diamonds. How shall B play and why.? 

3. Put the cards back as at first dealt. A leads queen of clubs, B takes with 
king of c and raising the ^ of s from the livret pairs it with the 2^ ot clubs in his 
hand, scores 2 points for a pair, sticking his peg at 6th hoh; ; B's draw card nov/ is 
the 7 of d. What brilliant lines of play are now open to B? 

ROQUET BOARDS, (PATT3.) 
Drummer. 
Tally boards lo^xil. The smallest board we m.ake, but it is large enough. 
Embossed over 15, 30, and 31st holes. Figures over king row in gilt or yellow. 
Bottom piece handsomely finished. Livret space in green. A board to take along 
in your grip. We got out this board for the drummers to play with the Sabbath 
school teacher when the sermon got wearisome. Pegs are wood so in case they 
fall on the floor will not disturb the preaching. The cheapest thing out in way of 
a game apperatus since Balaam smote the ass. This board takes the narrow cards 
2 1-4 wide. We mail a handsome pack to fit this board at only 25 cents. By 
mail $1.00, by express 85 cents. 

Princess. 
Same size as drummer. Subdivisions on the tally row separated by gold plated 
strips. Has handsome disk over 15th hole. Figures over king row in gilt. Livret 
space covered with plaited paper in red, blue, or green and gold, heavily varnished. 
Bone posts set on gilt disks on livret space and nickeled tacks to keep the cards 
from wearing the paper. Pegs are bone and handsome enough. Set of pegs by 
mail, 10 cents. We mail a handsome pack of cards to fit this board at 35 cents if 
desired. A handsome board, just the thing to take along in the parlor car, or to 
the picnic. Absolutely the newest thing since the Spanish fleet fired at Noah's 
Ark and hit the coast of South America. By mail $2 25 ; by express $2.00. 



ROQUET. 37 



Excelsior, A. 
Tally boards 12x2. Figures over king row in yellow. Embossed over 15th, 
30th, 31st holes, bottom piece finished in laqeur. Wooden posts on livret space. 
A good solid, honest board and good size. Never has been beat since the days 
when Noah was fined $16.51 for keeping wine with intent to furnish. By mail 
$1.10; by express 90 cents. 

Excelsior, B. 
A trifle longer; has handsome wide figures over king row and gilt disk over 15th 
hole, has extra peg hole to station pegs in Ix-fore the game commences ; pegs are 
wood. By mail $1.25 ; by express $1.00. 

Empress A. (Ladies' Parlor). 
Tally boards I2«^x2^, cherry or maple. (xilt devices over 15th, 30th, 31st holes. 
Large handsome figures in gilt over the king rov/. The edges of the tally sides are 
bordered with stripes of gilt and red paper, and the subdivisions of the tally board 
divided with the same paper, heavily varnished with white hard varnish. Livret 
space covered with gilt and red, blue or green paper, also heavily varnished to pre- 
vent wear. Bone posts set on gilt disks or fancy nickled bars on the livret space ; 
beautiful white pegs which cannot be beat ; set of pegs 12 cents, Combines size, 
with beauty and a complete verification of that old adage. "A thing of beauty is a 
joy forever." Doubtless Methusaleh would have lived 1200 years had he but owned 
one of these boards and even Job mid all his sorrow might have opened his mouth 
and grinned like a Nile crocodile. By mail $4.00; by express $3.50. 

Empress B. 
Same size and style as Empress A. Tally boards white and laid over with bright 
red paper in gilt. A bright showy board. 

OUR STANDARD CLUB BOARDS. 

Dictator. 

Tally boards 13^x2 1-4, large enough for club use. Tally row subdivided by 
stripes of gilt paper, heavily varnished. Gilt disks over 15th hole. Large gilt 
figures over king row. Wood points on livret space. Has extra peg hole to set 
the peg before the game begins, separated by a bar. Pegs are bone. We regret 
that Job could not have owned one of these boards. Modern civilization has not 
produced the artist who has penciled Job and his three friends seated under a palm 
tree playing Roquet. This board by express $1.75 ; by mail $2.00. 

CROWN PRINCE. 
Tally boards over 14 inches long. Figures over the king row set on a narrow 
strip sunk 1-16 below the surface wliich prevents wear. Holes on the king row 1-4 
inch in size. Livret space covered with paper in gilt and red, blue, or green, 
heavily varnished. Posts on the livret space large and topped with nickle heads. 
Tally row subdivided by fancy nickled bars. Pegs are especially turned for this 
board. Has extra peg hole on tally row, separated by a nickled bar. We got out 
this board for the gods on Mount Olympus to play on. Since Roquet has been in- 



38 ROQUET. 



troduced at Delphi, strife has ceased in Greece for since the world cannot play 
Roquet and fight at the same time, peace of very necessity doth reign. 

It has been suggested that this board might have been introduced into the garden 
of Eden as a means or doing away with strife, sin, and temptation, and in such 
case the old time record might have read : Adam and Eve passed the day without 
guile, innocently engaged in playing Roquet. Crown Prince board by mail $3.50 
by express $3.00 We make this board in another style with gilt paper subdividing 
the tally row, tally row heavily varnished. 

We cannot give cash prizes and a discount on our boards. The Roquet book con- 
tains 32 pages 8vo fully illustrated by card cuts. Sent by mail on receipt of 25 
cents. All communications addressed to 

A. T. Dana, 

Northfield, Vt. 



NEWS PRINT, NORTHFIELD, VJ. 




THE BISHOP. 






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